


Learning to Lie

by riverchic1998



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Manipulation, One-Sided Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Werewolf Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-08 21:37:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1137651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riverchic1998/pseuds/riverchic1998
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Peter didn’t bother with heart-to-hearts in front of a campfire with his betas. Claws to the back of the neck did just nicely. The result was he knew exactly where to push and how hard. Stiles hadn’t broken yet and he wasn’t going to.</i>
</p><p>Derek teaches Stiles how to lie to a werewolf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning to Lie

Stiles and Derek engage in a tense staring match. Neither of them blink. Derek tightens the muscles in his arms and Stiles’ gaze flickers down at the movement before darting up to match Derek’s stare again.

“My eyes are brown.”

Stiles’ eyebrow goes up. “Seriously? Uh, _lie_.”

With a sigh, Derek’s shoulders relax and he narrow his eyes. “You didn’t even try that time.”

“It’s because I’m staring into your eyes, dude.” A piece of lint sits on the table next to his elbow and he flicks it away in boredom. “I don’t have to listen to your heart beat to figure out that’s a lie. We’ve been over how your freaky eyes are rainbow colored.”

Stiles does pick up on Derek’s heart beat increasing in irritation and grins. “Go back to baseline?”

Derek doesn’t reply, glaring at Stiles, before giving in with a huff and a nod.

…………………………

_Peter’s grip on Stiles’ wrist was tight and he tugged experimentally, trying to see how tight it really was. Could he break free? Was there a chance that he could pry Peter’s fingers away and make a run for it?_

_He winced when Peter’s fingers squeezed almost lazily. That was going to bruise. “Well?” he asked. “Do you want it?”_

_Did Stiles want the bite? Yes. And no. Maybe? He was tired of being the human sidekick. He was tired of being Robin. Why the hell couldn’t he be Batman? Or even Superman, since a normal bullet would no longer affect him? Or was the Hulk more appropriate?_

_Screw all that. He was going to be Iron Man for the next Halloween._

_Peter seemed to be waiting for an answer and Stiles was debating on Halloween costumes. That was a sure-fire way to get dead really quick. Which brought Stiles to his ‘no’ answer. He didn’t want to be a mindless killer. Yes, Scott proved that he could fight against his instincts, but Stiles was the one who did the research. Alphas created a pack with at least three wolves to become more powerful. All the wolves would be more powerful, even, and Peter already proved that he could force a wolf to turn._

_That had been when he was packless. What could Peter do with a pack? What if Stiles couldn’t find an anchor? What if he killed people? What if he killed his **dad**?_

_His breathing increased, but he was not going to panic. He just wasn’t. Stiles tried to take deep breaths and calm his pounding heart. Peter’s teeth—his fangs—descended on his wrist and he used all his strength to wrench his wrist out of Peter’s grasp. Peter only looked amused. Bastard._

_“I don’t want to be like you,” he said as calmly as he could, but his wrist still burned and he was almost positive he was about to have a panic attack._

_Peter’s gaze narrowed thoughtfully. “Do you know what I heard just then? Your heart beating slightly faster over the words ‘I don’t want’. You may believe you’re telling me the truth, but you’re lying to yourself.”_

_Stiles took a deep breath. That didn’t matter. Lying to himself just didn’t matter right now. Escaping did. Finding Scott and Derek mattered. Stiles started to take a step back, intent on backing away now that Peter was hopefully done with him. He only got one step away before Peter was standing in front of him again, grasping his wrist just as tightly as before. Stiles yanked at his hand, but only succeeded on sliding along the slick concrete ground._

_“And I also know that you’re clever, Stiles. I know that out of anyone, you would be the one human to ruin my plans. And I can’t have you ruining my plans, now can I?”_

_He was trying to take a step away, trying to pull his arm away again, but Peter had such a tight grip that he couldn’t move. Peter kept pulling him closer, a manic glint in his eye and a cruel smirk curving on his lips. The panic started to bubble back up. “I won’t…how? How could I?” he asked, no longer trying to be subtle. He needed to get away, to call someone, **anyone**._

_“Don’t you listen? Because you’re clever. You’d find some way. You would interrupt my plans. And I will not have my plans interrupted.” Peter’s gaze swept over him, intense and burning. Stiles shivered and was five seconds from screaming rape, because he’d seen late-night cop television and that was a creeper once-over if he ever saw one. “You’re like me. Before the fire, I had the capacity to do terrible things, but my family grounded me. They were my anchor. I had something beautiful and pure to cling to. When they were taken from me—burned from me—there was nothing grounding me. You would be the same, and the viciousness and loyalty to pack you already exude is beautiful. No, I think I better keep an eye on you, Stiles. I need to keep you close.”_

_Stiles didn’t even have a chance to take a deep breath to yell for help before Peter’s other hand pushed back the dress shirt and exposed his flesh. His fangs struck into the skin and muscle, sinking deep. He tried to scream, but the hand that pushed back the dress shirt shot up and covered his mouth, muffling the sound. His back hit the sedan and he started to shake, both from the pain and the shock. Tears leaked from his eyes and he panted into Peter’s hand._

_The pain was intense, but as soon as Peter dropped his wrist, it subsided. Stiles dropped to his knees, cradling his wrist and taking sobbing breaths. Why had Scott not explained how much this hurt?!_

_Blood dripped to the concrete below and Stiles tried to focus on the blossoming color on the gray surface or the sounds Peter’s shoes made as they shuffled across the concrete. Anything besides the pain._

_When Peter crouched down in front of him, Stiles looked up with a glare. His body shook half from anger and half from shock. “I said no,” he said firmly, clenching his teeth. “I told you that I didn’t want to be like you.”_

_Peter’s smile grew and his hand came up to the back of Stiles’ neck gripping loosely. “And I told you that I could hear the lie in your heartbeat. If you survive this, I’ll show you how.”_

_The grip on his neck tightened in a scarily familiar fashion. The side of the car rushed towards him as Peter practically threw his head into the metal panel. Everything went black._

_When he woke up, Kate Argent was dead and the wound on his wrist was gone._

…………………………

“I like doing laundry,” Derek says.

Stiles snorts, rolling his eyes. “Lie.”

Derek growls and slams a clenched fist down on the table between them. They’ve been going at it for hours and while Stiles has been getting most of the answers right, Derek isn’t exactly asking the hardest questions. He doesn’t need to be a werewolf in order to sniff out these lies. “You didn’t use your senses!”

“I didn’t have to! Everyone knows you hate doing laundry!” Stiles chuckles. Derek’s fits over his turn on laundry day are epic. Stiles may have recorded a few on his cell phone for laughs. “Why don’t you actually say something that I wouldn’t know?”

They stare at each other across the table, Stiles amused and Derek pissed, but Derek nods. “Fine,” Derek grumbles. “The first car I ever drove was an old, yellow Volkswagen.”

Stiles sighs. At this rate, he was going to grow old and die before learning anything useful. “Lie.” When Derek’s eyebrow goes up and a smug expression crosses his face, Stiles straightens in his chair. “Wait, are you serious? No way, dude, there’s no way your first car was a beat up VW.”

For the first time since they started the lessons, an honest grin starts to bloom on Derek’s face. Stiles bites his lip. He hadn’t been listening properly, so sure that the words were a lie, but now he’s unsure if there was even a difference. “Dude, you drive a Camaro. Are you making up for the nerd mobile you drove way back in the prehistoric age?”

The grin disappears immediately and Derek glares at him, growling low in his throat. Stiles isn’t affected by it anymore. Instead, he gestures for Derek to continue. “I didn’t say that it was _my_ first car. I just said it was the first car I ever drove. It belonged to a family friend. I wanted to learn how to drive stick.”

Stiles glares now, because no one told him there was a loophole to these werewolf lie-detector shenanigans. “Okay, that’s not fair. Even if I could figure out how to tell a lie from a truth because of the heartbeat, that’s a trick question.”

Derek nods, a pleased expression softening his features. “Exactly. You can’t depend on this to be your fail-safe lie detector. Ever heard that the devil is in the details?”

“No, he’s upstairs,” Stiles mutters, shoulders hunching as he leans his elbows on the table. He runs his fingers along old claw marks in the wood, his somewhat good mood ruined. Derek snorts but doesn’t disagree.

“Let’s go again. And why don’t you actually try this time?”

……………………

_“Stiles.”_

_If he had been a werecat instead of a werewolf, he would have shifted and clung to the ceiling with his claws, shaking like a leaf. Peter’s smarmy grin gave away that he knew it, too. Bastard._

_“When will you stop being such a damned creeper?” he snapped, tossing his backpack into the corner, uncaring for the contents inside or the mark it left on the wall. His dad was on call that night and so it was just him until the early morning hours. He could be as loud as he damn well pleased. “How did you hide your scent? I sniffed!”_

_“Just because you can catch my scent doesn’t mean that you will. I have my ways.”_

_“Oh, yeah,” Stiles said, digging around in his dresser for a pair of shorts. His body ran too hot to wear jeans all the time when he could be in cooler clothes. His heartbeat calmed quickly, but his movements still jerked in anger, which was typical whenever Peter was around. “Speaking of things that I don’t know yet, you promised to teach me how to tell if someone is lying by listening to a heartbeat. So get on that.”_

_Peter was giving him his ‘you’re being an idiot’ look, which was normally reserved for Scott. Stiles didn’t like being on the receiving end of that look when it came from Peter. The alpha liked to correct mistakes using pain. He didn’t take Stiles’ suggestion of positive reinforcement to heart, either._

_He shivered and tossed the shorts onto the bed, pushing the memory far, far away. “Well, you did!”_

_“And learning that type of skill will take a while. I do not have the time, nor the patience to teach you.”_

_Stiles sighed loudly. There were times when he could push Peter and times when he had to back the hell off. He was still learning the differences in those times. Going for broke, he adopted one of his more whinier tones, just to be a pain in the ass. “You promised. Right before you bit me after I said no. Because you said that I lied. And now I think you’re bullshitting me and there isn’t actually a way to tell a lie by a heartbeat because if you could, don’t you think that Buffy the Vampire Slayer could have gone so many different ways?”_

_Peter didn’t look murderous, but he did seem irritated. He clenched his jaw before answering. “That was a television show, Stiles. There are no such things as vampires.”_

_“Yeah,” he scoffed, “And I thought werewolves were only in the movies. My rage issues would say otherwise.” Stiles turned around and slipped out of his long sleeved shirt before pulling on a light t-shirt. He would go into the bathroom to change out of his jeans because hell if he was doing that in front of Peter._

_When the alpha didn’t answer right away, Stiles guessed that this was one of those moments when Peter didn’t feel up to arguing about a topic. His silence meant the issue was closed. That was a lesson Stiles learned early on in his werewolf career. Stiles sighed and grabbed the shorts from the bed, giving up on the conversation and heading to the bathroom._

_Just as he opened the door to the hallway, Peter spoke up. “You found your anchor on the first day you were a wolf and you’ve kept your control ever since.” Stiles didn’t turn around to see his face, but Peter’s tone didn’t give his current mood away at all. He didn’t understand the point. “Your first moon went spectacularly.”_

_Stiles whirled around in horror. “I ate a rabbit. Raw.” He shivered at the memory of snapping back to a human mindset in the woods, a bloody rabbit carcass five inches from his face. “I consumed Thumper.”_

_Peter’s eyebrow went up with an unimpressed expression. “Would you rather have consumed Bambi? Or perhaps Bambi’s mother?”_

_“You’re like the Grinch, you know that?” he snapped, wrenching the door to the hallway open. If this was going to be a bash on Stiles night, he would rather be more comfortable. “You have no heart. At all. There was no need to bring Bambi’s mother into it.”_

_The truth was, he didn’t like that movie. Sure, the part where Bambi tries to skate is hilarious and Thumper really is like the bunny version of Scott, but the scene with Bambi’s mother and the hunter was too hard to watch, even when his own mother was still alive. After she passed, he couldn’t handle it._

_And Peter knew that. The alpha didn’t bother with heart-to-hearts in front of a campfire with his betas. Claws to the back of the neck did just nicely. The result was he knew exactly where to push and how hard. Stiles hadn’t broken yet and he wasn’t going to._

_If Peter listened to his heartbeat and could tell the difference between the scents of mild irritation and rage, he wasn’t paying attention to them. Instead, he continued talking as if Stiles wasn’t gripping the door frame so tightly the wood creaked. “I was only remarking that a rabbit really isn’t something to worry yourself over. You gave into the wolf but you were still aware enough to not go on a mindless killing spree.” Peter walked over to his computer chair and sat down. No, he lounged. Peter lounged in his computer chair and Stiles was just not okay with that. “So, you had one minor lapse in judgment. If you had turned into an actual wolf, I’m convinced you would have chased your own tail. It could have been worse.”_

_Stiles laughed sarcastically. “Oh, yeah, ha ha. Let’s laugh at the guy who didn’t want to be a werewolf eating a rabbit when it darted out from the bushes. Yeah, that was an awesome thing to experience when I came back to my senses two bites later. How could it have been worse?!”_

_“Scott had an arrow to the arm on his first full moon,” Peter said with a shrug._

_That made Stiles pause. “Yeah, okay. You win that round.” Peter grinned and Stiles wanted to smack the smug expression off his face. “But I still want to learn how to tell a lie from a heartbeat. That seems like the kind of thing I should really learn. I mean, you want to create a strong pack, right? Skill sets are essential.”_

_Peter sent him a level glare. “Do you really think you can manipulate me, Stiles?”_

_“You are the master manipulator. We know that.” Stiles sighed, leaning against the door, suddenly so very tired and done with this conversation. “Just…can you teach me or not?”_

_Peter stood from the chair, brushing the wrinkles away before pushing the chair under the desk. He looked over at Stiles, gaze raking over him in contemplation. “No.”_

_Stiles doesn’t know why he’s so surprised. It’s not like that was the first time Peter lied to him. It certainly wouldn’t be the last. He turned to head to the bathroom when Peter’s voice stopped him yet again. “But I will have Derek teach you.”_

_Stiles froze, staring at the wall in the hallway, going over Peter’s words in his mind. On the third round, he turned around, shaking his head. “Yeah, that plan won’t work. If you don’t have the patience for it, Mr. Pretend to be Catatonic for Years, then your flying off half-cocked nephew certainly won’t.”_

_“He will,” Peter said firmly, heading to the door. As he walked by Stiles, he passed a hand over his shoulder. Stiles had to make a concentrated effort not to flinch when his fingertips brushed his neck. “If you’re serious, I should say.”_

_Peter left and Stiles made a face at his empty bedroom. He was serious, but Derek would be more likely to toss him through a wall than teach him anything. “This is going to suck.”_

………………………….

“My favorite color is blue.”

Stiles’ eyes are closed because Derek decided he was too distracted. Sure, his ADHD is practically gone, but he still has trouble focusing, werewolf powers be damned. He takes a deep breath and tries to focus in on Derek’s heartbeat. The buzz of the lights overhead make him wince when he accidentally focuses on them instead of the rhythmic pounding. Normally, if he looks at Derek, he can focus on the heartbeat easier. 

With a sigh, Stiles slumps in his chair and shakes his head, slowly opening his eyes to get used to the light in the room again. “I can’t find it unless I’m looking at you.”

“You’re not always going to be able to stare right at the person to figure out if they’re lying or not. It’s best if you’re not dependent on that. Keep trying.”

No matter how many times Derek logically states why Stiles needs to learn to do this with his eyes closed, he still can’t. 

“Look, you’ve come this far,” Derek says in a grudging voice, purposefully not looking at Stiles, but staring at the table. “It’s a lot farther than I thought we could get so soon. I know focusing is harder for you, but you can do this.”

Stiles is more shocked over the pep talk from Derek Hale than he was when he found out werewolves were a thing. While it’s true that Stiles took to being a werewolf like a natural, this is just tripping him up for some reason. That Derek actually thinks he’s capable of learning it though--that’s something Stiles hadn’t considered. “Uh…” 

Before he can even think to form another sentence, Derek huffs and sits up. He straightens his shoulders and crosses his arms, glaring at Stiles. “Again.”

That was more like it. Stiles grumbles but pushes the lights and the buzzing insects in his head away. He can do this. The next sound he focuses on is clearly dripping water. There might be a leaky faucet somewhere in the apartment, but Stiles files that information away, along with the dripping sound.

After a solid five minutes of listening to random things and trying to not actually focus on said random things, the soft thump-thump of Derek’s heartbeat echoes in his ears. Immediately, Stiles nods. He’s not so sure he can focus on the heartbeat again and he wants to practice. “Say it again.”

“My favorite color is blue.”

Nothing about Derek’s heart rate changes. No upticks or skips. His breathing stays the same. “Next.”

“My fingers are crossed.”

Again, his heart rate doesn’t change at all. Stiles keeps focusing, trying not to lose the rhythm. It’s steady, but he has a hard time keeping it in the foreground of his mind. Those damn water droplets keep messing up his counting. “Next.”

“I’m staring at something green.”

If Stiles hadn’t been so focused on Derek’s heartbeat, he doesn’t know if he would have caught the change. It’s faint, but instead of the steady thumps, his heart beats slightly faster. Stiles’ eyes pop open in surprise. That was definitely a change. “I heard it!” he says with a laugh. “That was the lie. I got it!”

Derek doesn’t look as impressed or excited, but Stiles doesn’t care. He determined a lie by listening to a person’s heartbeat. But just to rain on his parade, Derek opens his mouth. “It’s not as easy as it sounds, is it?”

“Uh, _no_ ,” Stiles replies and for the first time, he realizes why Scott never bothered learning. A small part of him also knows now why Peter wouldn’t even entertain the idea of teaching him, because this shit was _hard_. There are way too many loopholes. “It’s not. I mean, what’s to stop someone from manipulating their heart beat by breathing really quickly? And how do you know if someone’s lying when they’re running on the treadmill or something? Peter said he could tell I was lying the night he bit me, but I know my heart rate was all over the place.”

“You’re a brand new wolf, Stiles,” Derek says, standing up. He arches his back and moves his neck side to side, stretching the muscles. “We’ve had years to learn how to hone the ability. Peter was always much better at it, but you can’t depend completely on the heart. You have to learn to read body language as well for the reasons you listed.”

Stiles makes a face. His excitement wanes because this isn’t as useful a skill as he originally thought. “That seems like a lot of hard work just to be able to notice when someone’s lying.”

“It goes both ways, you know,” Derek replies lightly over his shoulder as he walks away. “If you learn how to tell if someone is lying, you can learn how to get away with a lie when someone is watching you.”

Stiles blinks at the ramifications of what Derek just told him. “Wait…is that your way of saying that I could learn to lie to you or Peter and you wouldn’t be able to tell? I thought it was impossible to lie to a werewolf?”

Derek smirks at Stiles as he opens the door. “The sky is purple. You can’t lie to a werewolf. My hair is yellow.”

Through the statements, Derek’s heart rate remains steady, his breathing doesn’t increase, and there are no outward signs that he was lying, even though Stiles knows he is. All three statements are a lie. 

Stiles stares at the table, fingers tapping out a rhythm as he plans. He wants to fight, but any possible scheme he concocts is shut down early because when Peter asks for details of what he’s doing, no matter what Stiles says, Peter knows it’s the truth. Through broken bones and bloody gashes, Stiles eventually gave up and became complacent with his place in Peter’s pack. 

Learning to lie to Peter could be his greatest asset in the long run. He could work against Peter in the shadows without the alpha becoming suspicious.

Scott is kept on the fringes of the pack and kept away from Stiles for a reason. Peter doesn’t trust them together and if he’s as smart as he thinks he is, he would keep Derek and Stiles apart as well. Together, the three of them _can_ take him down. He will just have to teach Scott how to lie after Derek teaches him. 

For the first time since this whole disaster began, Stiles begins to hope. 

He doesn’t get to ask any more questions because Derek closes the door firmly behind him. The lesson for today is over.

But Stiles’ fight begins.

**Author's Note:**

> Many super thanks to my betas, [Jacy Evans](http://archiveofourown.org/users/jacyevans/pseuds/jacyevans) and [Jo Anne Storm](http://archiveofourown.org/users/jo_anne_storm/pseuds/jo_anne_storm). You ladies are lovely. Extra kudos to Jacy for writing my summary for me because I fail.
> 
> This was written for the January full moon for [Full Moon Challenge.](http://tw-fullmoonchallenge.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Come say hello on [tumblr!](http://dream-mancer.tumblr.com/)


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